'China's Twitter' stock surges more than 10%

Sina Corp., which operates China's Twitter-like microblogging site Weibo, posted a surprise second-quarter profit of $33.2 million, more than triple the amount a year ago.

The results, which included an 11% jump in revenue, blew investors away since analysts had predicted that the company would post a slim loss for the quarter. Shares of Sina (SINA), surged 14% to their highest level since May.

Sina's CEO Charles Chao noted that Weibo, which is likened to Twitter, is continuing to gain momentum, which helps it grow market share in online advertising. The company's online advertising revenues rose 12% during the second quarter, which Chao said he was pleased with in the face of China's "challenging macroeconomic environment."

While most users of StockTwits are microblogging about their pleasant surprise over Sina's results (but not on Weibo), a few are more wary.

lamonicabuzz: Twitter isn't public yet. But China's Twitter is! $SINA, parent company of Weibo, up more than 11% on better than expected earnings.

While growth among mobile users is a good thing, Sina is struggling with its mobile advertising strategy -- just like fellow social media site Facebook (FB). Revenue from mobile advertising declined more than 9% during the quarter compared to a year ago.

kevinzhang: $SINA i think ER is good, however, China economy right now is little fuzzy, just be aware of. i won't touch Chinese stocks anymore.

That's a valid point. China is growing at its slowest pace since the recession. It grew 7.6% in the second quarter, marking a deceleration from an 8.1% growth rate in the prior quarter and the slowest growth since early 2009. While that may not affect the number of users on Weibo.com, it could impact advertising revenue.

Hibah Yousuf is a reporter at CNNMoney, where she covers stocks, bonds, commodities and currencies trading across the globe, as well as corporate earnings and other markets-related news. Prior to joining the site in 2009, she interned at Money Magazine.